The Inverness Ravens defeated the Port Hood Blue Jays 6-5 to capture the Nova Scotia U15 baseball championship. Members of the team are, from left: coach Dan MacLeod Mac MacLellan(off screen), Aydin Copley, Danny MacDonald, Ryder MacLean, Alistair MacLeod, Colton MacIsaac, Alex Dan MacDonnell, Eli LeBlanc, head coach Andrew MacLean, Jack MacNeil, Brett MacGillivray, Rylan LeBlanc. Missing from the photo is Drew MacDonnell.
-by Bill Dunphy
‘Always the bridesmaid, never the bride’ is an idiom describing a person or a team that regularly makes it to the finals but never wins the contest.
Having reached a Nova Scotia baseball championship four times in the past without winning, the Inverness Ravens became 10 of the ugliest, but happiest, brides on Tuesday of last week.
Led by a stellar pitching performance by Alistair MacLeod and a clutch hit by player of the game Colton MacIsaac, the Ravens captured the Nova Scotia U15 title with a 6-5 win over the Port Hood Blue Jays.
There was a full house of baseball fans at the Leo A. MacDonell Memorial ball field in Judique where the prolonged tournament finally came to an exciting conclusion.
The Blue Jays were first out of the blocks, scoring the maximum three runs in the top of the first inning.
Ravens starter Ryder MacLean plunked lead-off batter Bentley Cameron and then gave up back-to-back RBI singles to Colin MacDougall and Ashton Hawley before settling in to get two outs. However, a passed ball allowed the speedy Hawley to score their third run.
In the bottom half, MacIsaac worked a walk off Port Hood starter Neil MacEachern, who gave way for Carter DeCoste to take over on the mound.
MacIsaac stole second and MacLeod put the Ravens on the scoreboard with an RBI double.
DeCoste got out of the inning and proceeded to pitch two scoreless innings as the Blue Jays added a run in the third and another in the fourth to go up 5-1.
With one out in the third on a wicked catch by MacLean on a screamer by Evran Beaton, Cameron was hit by a pitch again, stole second, and a base hit by MacDougall brought him home.
MacLeod then took over on the mound and got the next two outs.
The Blue Jays started what looked to be a big fourth inning when DeCoste led it off with a bunt single and moved to third on a single by Reid Anstey.
However, MacLeod struck out the next batter and then picked off DeCoste at third.
Blake Warcop brought Anstey home with a base hit, but MacLeod closed out the inning with no further damage.
Down 5-1, the Ravens got some momentum going in the bottom of the fourth, beginning with a base hit by Danny MacDonald.
DeCoste got the next out, and Luke Calder came in for relief.
However, Aydin Copley hit a single to drive in MacDonald and Mac MacLellan reached on a catcher’s interference call.
The top of the Ravens order rolled around and MacIsaac came through with an RBI single to score Copley, but MacLellan got caught in a rundown between third and home and was tagged out to end the inning.
MacLeod logged a scoreless fifth for the Ravens and Malcolm MacInnis did the same for the Blue Jays to take a 5-3 lead into the sixth inning.
MacLeod struck out the first batter he faced but gave up a single to Hawley and walked MacInnis. Digging deep, he then got out of the inning with back-to-back Ks.
The bottom half of the Ravens order continued to shine to spark a three-run inning to put Inverness up 6-5.
With one out, Jack MacNeil singled, Copley singled, and MacLellan hit an RBI single to score MacNeil.
Brett MacGillivray, who did his part with good at-bats to drive up pitch counts, lined out to MacInnis for the second out.
Called on again to make something happen, ‘Clutch’ MacIsaac doubled to deep centre to bring home Copley and MacLellan for the three-run max inning.
MacLeod took the mound in the top of the seventh with just 19 pitches left before reaching the 95-pitch limit.
As it turned out, he didn’t need 19, getting three quick outs on two grounders and a fly-out to give the Inverness Ravens the 6-5 victory.
“That was scary, but we all came through at the right time,” said MacIsaac.
“It means a lot to us. We’ve been in the finals four times and didn’t win it, but we’re going to enjoy this one.”
While the top of the order has done a lot of the heavy lifting, including MacLeod, MacIsaac, MacLean, and catcher Alex Dan MacDonnell, Ravens coach Andrew MacLean tipped his hat to the young guys in the bottom half of his order.
“Mac drove in a run and crossed the plate for the winning run, Aydin had a pair of hits and drove in a run, Danny and Jack with hits. You never know who’s going to show up,” MacLean said.
“It’s been a lot of years finishing second – more silver medals than I’d like to admit. The boys deserved this, they’re all good buddies and a good group of athletes from top to bottom. It was something to see them grow over the year,” he said.
MacLean said there was never any panic in the dugout, even when the Blue Jays opened the 3-0 lead in the first inning.
“Port Hood has an excellent team and they made some excellent catches to keep us off the bases. But we tightened things up and got runners on the base pads. There’s no tournament MVP, but Alistair did valiant job, not just today but throughout the tournament.”
MacLean also acknowledged his assistant coach Dan MacLeod and Jason Clarke who helped out at practices. “They’re winners because of the work Dan and Jason put in.”
Port Hood coach Ardell Hawley, who was often the reason Inverness settled for silver, had high praise for his team.
“The kids left here with their heads held high. We’ve been fortunate to be on the winning end of the scoreboard. But you can’t always base losing on the score. The kids came here and played hard, they respected their opponents, and respected the game itself. They’re winners,” he said.
“After taking the early lead, we struggled to get the add-on runs. Alistair (MacLeod) really stepped up for them; he’s an excellent athlete and an excellent person. A gamer.”
Upon returning to Inverness, the team was paraded through town with a fire truck – something that hasn’t been done in quite a while. Hopefully it’s a sign of the future for baseball in Inverness.